Bell times for the school day are as follows:
School begins
9:00 am
Morning Interval
10:30 am
School continues
10:50 am
Lunch
12:30 pm
School continues
1:20 pm
School finishes
2:50 pm
If you need to ring the school for some reason we would appreciate it if you did not ring during teaching periods. We do have an answer phone and messages are cleared at 10:45am, 12:40pm and 2:45pm.
Because of the nature of our district the children seldom ride their bikes to school. Occasionally the children do like to bike and we recommend that the following be taken into consideration:
The Law states that it is compulsory for every child riding a bike to wear a Standards Approved Safety Cycle Helmet.
Parents/Caregivers are also reminded that it is their responsibility to ensure that their child’s bike is up to safety requirements. Children must be 11 years old before they are allowed to ride to school on their bike.
Homework in the Junior rooms will consist mainly of Reading and can include Spelling, Maths and Written work. In the Senior rooms the homework will include Reading, Spelling, Maths and often some research topic such as current events.
At Barton Rural School we welcome international students. Some students stay for a full school year with others preferring a shorter stay, usually 6 to 10 weeks.
To minimise lost property, we request that all clothing be named! The Lost Property box is available for Parents to look through in the administration block.
A pie warmer operates at school and children can have pies, pizzas, finger food heated. This is available on Fridays. Please wrap in tinfoil and have named. Please don’t send anything along for your children that will involve extra adult help when heating e.g. noodles. Tuesday will be American Hot Dog day. These are $2 and need to be ordered before 9am on Tuesday.
To keep you informed on current events happening within the school and the Barton Rural Community, a newsletter is published once a week on Thursday. A community newsletter will be published once a term and you are welcome to use it to advertise any events that you may well be planning.
The newsletter is also available through our email tree. If you would like the newsletter emailed to you please email us at office @bartonrural.school.nz with “Newsletter Please” in the subject line!
A variety of sports are played at Barton Rural School as part of our Physical Education programme.
All pupils are expected to take part unless there is a medical problem.
When participating against other schools, the children are required to wear the Barton Rural school uniform. (Sports T-Shirt and green Shorts)
At Barton we have a range of outside sports teams which include Netball, Basketball, TeeBall, Touch and others as the demand arises.
Barton Rural School has a neat and practical, compulsory uniform. Uniforms are supplied through the school from Postie Plus.
Please make sure all uniforms are named!!!
Please note that a green sunhat is part of the school uniform.
If your child is away from school at any time, please give the school a ring (03 688 4709) explaining why your child will be away. This helps ensure the safety of your child. If we haven’t heard from you, don’t be surprised if the school gives you a ring just to see where your child is! To help with social and academic learning we believe that whenever possible children should be at school.
Holiday breaks: We do understand that from time to time families need to take holidays during term time. Whenever possible it is advantageous to the akonga to have these breaks during school holiday times.
If you are travelling within NZ we MUST note this as an UNJUSTIFIABLE ABSENCE - legally it is only justified if your family holiday is over seas.
Ashton Scholastic run a book club through the school. They have many entertaining and often educational books available to order through a monthly order system. If you wish to order books through this club simply fill out the order form and send the correct money or cheque back to school in an envelope. Cheques can be made out to Barton Rural School or Scholastic New Zealand.
Our latest Assembly
Children have the option of opening an account and banking through the school. People are most welcome to ring the school office if they require a form. We wish to encourage as many children to get into the SAVINGS habit as we can!The school banking is done through ASB - we endeavour to have it banked each week.
From time to time a teacher may feel a trip away from the School would help the children learn more about a particular topic they may have been studying from first-hand experiences.
Parents will always be informed of these prior to the day and may sometimes be asked to assist with the supervision of these trips. The school always carries a cellphone during these trips and can be contacted in case of an emergency on 0277669290 (Principal’s cellphone number).
As part of the Schools programme, children will participate in a number of activities during the school year. Swimming, Cross-Country Running, Athletics and other cultural activities etc;- you will be informed of these when the activities are about to be held. As a School we welcome all parents, grandparents, members of the community, and friends of families to come along and join us on these occasions.
Barton Rural School is very fortunate indeed to be able to offer an excellent Individual Needs and Abilities programme to the pupils of the school who need extra one to one assistance.
At Barton Rural we use a range of means to report about student progress and achievement.
We use National Standard information to report about Reading, Writing and Mathematics - these skills are to be used and enhanced ACROSS the curriculum.
We also use Learning Journals that include work samples and student comments to show case progress and work ethic - this may connect to our being Ready, Willing and Able learners.
Student Voice is an essential ingredient when sharing our learning pathways. Akonga at BRS are all able to talk to and share with whanau learning pathways and next steps.
Celebration of learning takes place through classroom and school displays as well as Performance Assemblies and other opportunities.
The writtten report timeline changes dependent upon your birthday if you are in Years 1, 2 or 3. If your child in in Years 4-8 there will be a 'interim' or midpoint report that shares where the learning is in regards to progress towards the National Standard. At the end of year the report identifies where the learning is against the National Standard.
Our current Library underwent a major revamp during 2006.
During 2006 we had a school wide competition to rename our library. From this the K.I.W.I centre was born … Knowledge, Interests, Wisdom and Information … a resource more than your everyday run of the mill library! We now have a 21st Century library that we are delighted to work in.
Our senior students are currently applying for librarian positions - our children are very motivated and are finding people who can be their referees. What great quality librarians we will have.
We are always very interested in hearing from families and care-givers in regards to new school enrolments.
The school currently has an enrolment zone and must carefully manage the number of children. The enrolment scheme allows the school to reach a maximum of 148 students.
Our roll is very healthy at the moment and can only guarantee enrollments if you live within the zone. Please ring to find out more information.
If you know of anyone likely to begin school in 2013, 2014 or 2015 please make a strong suggestion that they contact school as soon as possible. Future projections help us make more accurate predictions.
From time to time we all have questions or concerns. Please come and talk. Miscommunication is often the grounding of issues. In the first instance talk to your child's teacher - remember also that Anna is also available to talk through any thoughts or ideas. If we don't know of something we can't work to make it better. We do take our 'open door' policy seriously - come and chat - come early and chat!
If you would like a copy of our complaints procedure come and ask at the office or there is also a copy in the downloads section.
We love it when whanau come to help. If you can spare some time come in and talk to your child's teacher. It would be great if you can help during, reading, writing, maths or any time. This help maytake different forms; such as class excursions, working bees etc. Come and join us on sports days, pet day and any other event. Barton Rural School has a proud reputation for being a school that can rely on its’ community.
As part of our student records we need to have on file permission slips. This is a generic permission slip (for class trips within the immediate area) and an Internet/ICT permission form.
We are adopting a relationship development outlook to our school culture. What kind of people do we want our kids to be? How can we as a school help them become that person?
We believe it is essential to teach children social and emotional skills; sometimes the world is a little tough and we need to have a toolkit of abilities to ride out these storms.
We want our kids to be equipped to deal with a variety of situations but mostly importantly to do the right thing because it is the right thing to do - rather than doing the right thing because someone is watching over me. (and I may get a speeding ticket)
We recommend that Parents instruct their children very carefully on the appropriate ways to travel to and from school. Special mention must be made in regard to Fairview Road which has an 80km/ph speed limit. The school runs “Keeping Ourselves Safe” and “Physical Safety” programmes as part of the Health programme which complements careful safety instructions from the home.
The Government, through a series of grants, meets the cost of some items in a school. These include staff salaries, the power bill, building maintenance, cleaning supplies, telephone charges and text books. Extras, such as additional books for the library, sports equipment, visual aids, new computers etc. can not always be bought using the operational grant and can be funded by the school community.
Anna Miller Principal
Kirsten Smith Year 7/8
Hayden Inkster Year 6/7
Rod Hurley Year 4/5
Kate Coulter Year 2/3 Deputy Principal
Alex Fraser Year 0-2
Claire Richmond Yr0-2
Rose Butchers School Secretary
Robbie Caretaker
Sam Thomas Teacher’s Aide
Denise Watson Teacher's Aide
Claire Gould
Jackie Tapper Teacher's Aide/ Librarian
It is recommended that all children have their own sun screen lotion to apply to all exposed skin during the school day for any outdoor activities.
We are sunsmart school and hats are compulsory in term 1 and 4.
The school’s policy of No hat, No play, will be enforced
We are very lucky to have the use of the school pool and can ensure an exciting and profitable swimming programme for the children. Children will be required to have their togs everyday, no matter what the weather for the first six weeks of the first term and from mid October in the fourth term.
In 2012 the Home and School committee made significant renovations to the pool which has given us an attractive pool to use to its full capacity.
A lot of children come to school using the Barton Rural School buses that are run by Ritchies. They run a very efficient and reliable service. We request that in the interests of your child/ren’s safety that you notify the school of any daily changes to your own transport requirements. If you would like to be on the bus please contact the school office.
This service is currently a free one. However this is reviewed annually.